Hive (not Hyves) is a network that feels, sees, listens and
exchanges. The underlying software HIVEWARES is an open source
operating system designed to function on commercial networks like
WiFi. Every Hive enabled device is a node in the network. ,
Internet- and computer-veteran Vladimir Grafov was involved in the
development and tells about its history, the possibilities and the
future of Hive. Grafov will be joined by Alexei Blinov and introduced
by Rob van Kranenburg.

Hive Networks are different; they watch, listen, sense and touch the
world around them.
They actively source, distribute and create content, they...... turn
the world on.

Having said that, we realize that challenge of building the parallel
models of networking is not an easy one. Started as an art project
and founded by Art Council of England, Hive Networks is an artistic
adventure into ubiquitous computing, creative exposure of
technologies which otherwise stay hidden and incomprehensible to the
public.
It is not difficult to imagine a future where billions of people
regularly access applications running inside the global network as
part of their daily lives, when technology recedes into the
background of our lives and seamlessly integrates with it, becoming
so embedded, so fitting, so natural, that we use it without even
thinking about it. But it is not about technology. It’s about the
mismatch between the current hierarchical models in which global
networks are organized and the emerging publishing culture that
became possible because of the technology. It‘s about empowerment,
gaining control over the identity and locality of the content.
Centralized, corporately structured content aggregators and
information brokers inevitably capitalized on the content they
collect, accumulate and filter. Network owners and connectivity
providers consider volume charges to make sure they keep growing.
Copyright owners push towards tightly controlled distribution of the
content.
We believe that the mismatch could be resolved by developing
parallel, democratic tools of publishing that rely on shared network
ownership. We base our work on three cornerstones: Open source
software, Open Spectrum (WiFi) and Open hardware. These three
elements come together in what we generically call “Hive enabled
device”.
Each HIVE enabled device is capable of gathering content and
disseminating it either to its immediate physical location or across
a local or global network.
HIVEWARES is the software behind each HIVE device. It is an open
source operating system designed to work on commercially available
network hardware such as wireless access points or wireless LAN hard
drive units. These units are attractive to use due to their
relatively low cost, low power requirements, and in-built network
connectivity.
Once installed with HIVEWARES each device not only acts as a node in
the network but also collects, stores and forwards data and multi-
media content. The HIVE device no longer only provides a connectivity
structure, through which access to the global Internet is
facilitated, but a content structure, a hiving network of desires and
cultural/artistic creations.

During the evening, we will address some of the issues we encountered
in the course of the project and give a short demonstration of the
current state of development.